The blog contains articles by the author which appear in various newspapers in Kashmir and are also available on the website: www.kashmirfirst.com

Wednesday, August 30, 2017

The (un-) Holy Men!

(The
controversy surrounding Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and the mayhem caused by his
conviction for rape seems only the proverbial tip of the ice-berg!)

For quite some time
India was known in the west as the land of snake charmers and naked sadhus.
Well, the Sadhus are considered to be the holy men who have been associated
with India from the earliest times. The Himalaya, the greatest mountain chain
in the world has been called the “Abode of Gods”! Traditionally, most of the
holy men have been going up in the mountains to meditate. However, the real
spiritual beings about whom one reads in history books have been totally
non-materialistic. They, in fact, have always renounced the material world in
preference to the spiritual world. However, with the modern progress and
development, the spiritual and the holy men too have progressed from the
spiritual to the material world. India is home to dozens of these holy men
quite a number of whom have been indulging in un-holy things!

In 2014, the rediff.com
carried a detailed article about these holy men under the title, “India’s 10
most controversial Gurus”! It would be interesting to give excerpts from the
article. The first one is Sant Rampal, an Engineer who after coming into
contact with a seer set up Satlok Ashram in 1999.He owns a fleet of luxury cars
and lives in a 12 acre sprawling farm in Barwala, Haryana. He has 25 lakh
followers! He has his own Facebook and YouTube page. After a clash with the
followers of Swami Dayanand Saraswati he faces charges of murder, attempted
murder and contempt of court cases.

Next is AsaRam Bapu.
Born in undivided Sindh, he has 425 Ashrams and more than 50 gurukuls and
tremendous following in India and abroad. He is accused of raping a 16 year old
girl in his Ashram at Jodhpur even as the mother of the girl waited outside. He
is also allegedly accused in a 700 acre land grabbing case. He and his son are
also accused of death of two boys whose bodies were recovered near from
Sabarmati near his ashram.

Another
Guru is Swami Nityananda. Popular for his
spiritual discourses and meditation programmes, Swami Nithyananda was named as
one of the 100 most spiritually influential living people in the world by
Watkins ‘Mind Body Spirit magazine. He claims to be
the most-watched spiritual teacher on YouTube.com with more
than 14 million views, and the author of more than 300 books published in 27
languages. He landed in controversy after video footage showing him in a
compromising position was telecast by some tv channels. He was also accused of
rape by Indian born American citizen, Arthi Rao in June, 2012. Rao went on
Indian television accusing him of raping her for several years. He denied the
allegations!

Then comes
Baba Ramdev known for popularising Yoga. He has been very vocal about many
political issues in the country. Tehelka Magazine has reported many
irregularities and tax evasion by his trust. Brinda Karat, the senior communist
leader has accused Divya Pharmacy of using human and animal bones in their
medicine. He has been claiming cure for many diseases including Aids through
Yoga.

Next is Swami
Agnivesh. He is Arya Samaj Scholar and activist and is former member of Haryana
Legislative assembly. He has many controversies associated with him. Agnivesh, during a trip to Jammu, had
allegedly said that he "does not understand why people go" for
Amarnath yatra and such pilgrimages and had termed the "Shivlingam"
that forms inside the Amarnath cave shrine a geographical phenomenon. The
Supreme Court condemned Agnivesh for hurting the sentiments of Hindus. “You
cannot take sentiments of the people for granted," the bench said, noting
that a large number of people go on Amarnath yatra every year.

One of the most controversial spiritual leaders is Rajnesh or
Osho.He is considered to be the most
controversial spiritual leaders of 20th Century to have emerged from
India. He has been outspoken in his criticism of socialism, Mahatma Gandhi and
institutionalised religion. He advocated a more open attitude towards sexuality
which earned him the sobriquet of the “Sex Guru”! He has been accused of giving
drugs to Sannyasins. Due to controversies in India he fled to USA. However, in
Oregon his commune was accused of many violations and he was deported.

Another Guru is Chandraswami, the tantric who was close to Prime
Minister Narasimha Rao. He has been accused of many financial irregularities. In 1996 he was arrested for defrauding
a London businessman of $ 100, 000. CBI has also been investigating him for
involvement in Rajiv Gandhi murder case as a financier!

Next isJayendra Saraswati who is the sixty-ninth
Shankaracharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham. Kanchi
seer Jayendra Saraswati and his junior Vijayendra are the prime accused in the
murder of Sankararaman, the manager of the Varadarajaperumal temple at
Kanchipuram, in September 3, 2004.

One of the most famous God Men is the world famous Sathya Sai Baba
of Puttaparthi. He was the most famous Guru with millioms of followers in 126
countries. Often regarded as ‘Bhagwan’, Sathya Sai Baba, who passed away in
2011, ruled the hearts of his devotees through many social service endeavours
like building multi-specialty hospitals providing free treatment, schools and
colleges among others. However, his life and times were also marked by several
serious controversies involving allegations of faking ‘miracles’, sexual abuse
and even paedophilia -- all of them vociferously refuted by his followers. There
also have been allegations of misappropriation of funds in the name of
donations in running the Rs 40,000 crore Sathya Sai Baba trust. Moreover, even
after the Baba’s demise, trustees found cash of Rs 11.5 crore, 98 kg of gold
and silver articles weighing 307 kilograms from his private room, which again
raised eyebrows. The money and valuables took 36 hours to be counted.

Finally, we come to the present Guru whose conviction for rape
created havoc in Haryana and some other places. Leader of the Dera Sacha Sauda,
a socio-spiritual orgnisation, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has led his
organisation to several Guinness World Records. The spiritual leader and
preacher has, in association with the American Society of Echocardiography,
created a world record for most cardiac echo tests. He had been found
guilty of raping two woman followers and has been sentenced to 10 years in
prison. Following this, his followers went on rampage in Haryana and Army had
to be called out. He wept in the court and asked for forgiveness!

Apart from these well-known “holy” men, there are numerous others
all over the country. It will take a book to describe all of them. The main
reason for the phenomenal growth of these pseudo-Gurus is political patronage
and the lack of true faith in the ultimate being among the masses. They get
taken in by these Gurus who claim to be nearer to God. One does not need a
lawyer to plead before the Almighty. Basically all religions preach approaching
the Highest Being directly. These Gurus exploit the weakness of the masses. In
fact, the followers of these Gurus are massive vote banks! There is urgent need
to investigate all the Ashrams, Trusts and other organisations claiming to be
closer to God Almighty through the National Investigation Agency. Many
skeletons may fall from the cupboard! In the meantime, the innocent masses will
continue to be exploited by these (un-) holy men!